Outcome

Background

My social media presence is what people would consider “specialized”. To me, the internet is a place to communicate new ideas and collaborate with people, not to socialize. The websites I frequent are those that show me new media, and hence I prefer Reddit and deviantArt to the more personal sites of Facebook and Twitter.

Among the social media sites I have expressed an interest in, one in particular that has caught my attention and time is a forum called Smogon University. It is rather specialized in terms of its audience; it is recognized among the English-speaking Pokemon community. Yet, within this sample space, it is the de facto competitive Pokemon website, and thus, it is held in high regard. It is home to an online simulator for competitive play, and it has a database of metagame analyses members are encouraged to discuss and construct.

As of September 17, 2015, 10:20 AM, the Facebook page for the site has 279,234 likes, and the forums themselves have 230,775 registered members. Out of that number, I am one of the few hundred members of the site that are special community members called “badgeholders”, showing that I have made significant contributions to the website. Indeed, since December 16, 2011, I have made many works of art for the Create-a-Pokemon Project and the Pokemon Showdown! Sprite Project, and, in addition, I have been recognized for not only artistic contributions but also community ones, enough to receive two badges.

…Then, on September 16, 2015, just one day before this project was assigned, I replaced my profile avatar, added a descriptive title, and formally left the website.

Let me make that clear; this is not a stunt for the purposes of this assignment. On a website that I had been an active member of for nearly four years (and lurked on for much longer), I had actually made definitive changes to my profile to signal I quit.

I had planned my resignation months in advance, and the decision was one of careful consideration. It is auspicious that the timing of the event and the expectations of this project would align so well, and it is rather fantastic that I can present a concrete example of the behaviors expected from social media and the effects changing it create. I ask the reader to keep in mind the gravity and reality of the event I document.

Documentation

Intention

My internet presence is static. When I invest my time into a community, I establish a consistent username, avatar, and behavior that represent who I am. As a longstanding member of Smogon University, I had done the same; on the day I joined the site, I uploaded an avatar, and since then, I have retained it for nearly four years. Even when I was promoted to badgeholder and was privileged to larger avatars and a custom title, I actively decided to retain my existing profile information; I was thankful that the moderators of the site recognized me for my contributions, but I did not flaunt it.

Therefore, any edit to my profile at all represents a drastic change, and I absolutely recognized and crafted changes to my profile using this fact. People see other peoples’ presence on the forums through their avatars. It is common practice for Smogon University alumni to desaturate their avatars and badges upon departing the website, and therefore, my fellow colleagues would recognize my course of action as one of conformity and tradition, not of audacity, if it were not for a few creative differences. My change of avatar will be a crisp, recognizable message.

Process:

As mentioned in the ‘Intention’ step, I would make a change to my profile by updating my avatar and adding a title. While the step sounds simple enough, I had multiple considerations that I idly chewed over months before the deadline arrived. The avatar has to be relevant and show I was no longer active, yet I strived to express creativity in the change. Simply desaturating my existing avatar would not be enough, and I eventually contrived a design to both followed site tradition and represented my site contributions. The particular details will be explained in the next step.

Product

In four years, Smogon had completely revamped its frontend and forum software. Yet for me, the only real change to my avatar is my choice of subject—from a canon Ninetales to Kitsunoh, one of Smogon’s CAP designs. I even stick to the decade-old technology of Microsoft XP Paint and a mundane Dell mouse. (That’s how static I am, apparently!) Regardless, I consider the change of character significant for multiple reasons. I only have 200 words, though, so I will be brief about my reasons.

• New pixel art shows my continued work as a pixel artist.

• A CAP design shows my contributions to the CAP Project.

• Kitsunoh’s natural colors are desaturated compared to the bright colors of my existing avatar, fitting tradition.

• A fiery fox to a ghostly fox indicates my once-active online presence is now a ghostly, inactive one. However, a ghost is not, colloquially, ‘dead’.

To add to clarity, I added a custom title that showed I was moribund. While other badgeholders frequently use their title, I had intentionally neglected mine. Adding a title lets my audience recognize that I had a particular purpose for finally assigning a title and that its content is significant!

Effect

I stress that I have planned my leave from the website months in advance, so this change is not a shocking swerve of any sort. Most of the people I work with in the CAP Project knew I would be leaving, and we had arranged other forms of contact. They were saddened by my decision, but they understand. When I mentioned my decision in CAP’s IRC channel, several of the old guard—more so associates than friends—responded with sadness, given that I would be leaving a hole in the community. All in all, their reactions showed mature sentiment and earnest understanding. The etiquette of community members who responded was courteous and respectful. There are CAP contributors that are more vocal, but those members tended to be outside of my range of familiarity to respond to care, I presume.

Reflection

We mentioned in the group activity for September 17, 2015 how internet denizens tend to be more sensational, overreactive, and, at times, vitriolic with emotions. I have seen drama artists milk their friends’ reactions when they claim they are quitting or raising other drastic news. Therefore, I acted not as a scientist testing an experiment but as a social engineer meticulously plotting how I wanted my audience to react (…yeah, right). I communicated my message ahead of time, and closing my profile is merely a seal on its envelope. This way, both the community and I carry onward with a minimum of unnecessary havoc.

Overall, this incident’s outcome was far from unpredictable or unwanted. The assignment expects the action of changing a profile photo to correspond with the reaction of people’s dissonant responses; in other words, it incentivizes betraying the etiquette of open communication. Should I have hidden plans to leave the site until yesterday, I would expect Smogon’s members to be confused and perceive me as dramatic; it would betray my reputation of being trustworthy. With such consequences in mind, I would not modify any events in the lead-up to my departure or the final change to my profile.